The Stimulus Effect’s non-profit arm, Perpetual Development, Inc., will establish the Guide. Grow. Transform. to provide interpretation, counseling, education and training, and legal services, along with public awareness and targeted outreach programs, for immigrants, individuals who are D/deaf or hard of hearing, individuals with disabilities or who are differently abled, LGBTQ individuals, and people of color in New York, NY. Guide. Grow. Transform. will aim to expand access to services for survivors of crime toward improving public safety, promoting justice-system equity, and ideally increasing crime reporting. Program outcomes include higher rates of service use among survivors of crime; greater satisfaction with services among survivors of crime; more supportive and responsive social-service context for focus populations; better individual and family functioning among survivors of crime (including improved social and emotional well-being, reduced incidents of child abuse and neglect, improved participation in the workforce, improved financial independence, improved interpersonal relationships, and improved occupational functioning); higher rates of reporting to law-enforcement among survivors of crime; and greater participation in the prosecution of crime among survivors. Guide. Grow. Transform.’s programs will include:

Customized, student-centered educational support and developmental services: Guide. Grow. Transform. will provide standards-based (with content aligned with the Common Core and ESSA principles), student-centered, culturally responsive, and interactive academic assistance—across reading, math, vocational training, science, financial management, technology, test preparation (including the GED), and other areas—that not only strengthen fundamental skills and improve academic proficiency, but also guide them in developing the mental and emotional resources needed to thrive and overcome challenges. These include “resilience training” [helping participants implement approaches and tools, based in Applied Behavioral Analysis (ABA) and Pivotal Response Therapy (PRT) that enable them to manage trauma, develop positive self-concepts, constructively manage conflicts, and continue on academic and professional trajectories even after setbacks]; impulse control and behavior modification, and peer-to-peer support. Through peer-to-peer support, participants will be placed in “achievement circles”—featuring peers and at least one mentor with complementary experiences, outlooks, and skill sets on whom they can rely and whom they can support toward fulfilling aspirations and staying on the road to recovery). Along with academic and therapeutic supports, The Stimulus Effect—along with its Hub partner MFY Legal Services—will advocate for students, particularly those with special needs, to ensure that IEPs and 504 Plans are formatted toward their receiving at-school services to which they are as mandated by the Equal Access Act, IDEA, and other outstanding legislation. Educational services will honor and integrate participants’ backgrounds with a focus on African-American, African, and Latino cultures, contemporary art and music (including hip-hop dancing and composition), sports, and “infused play” (athletic and similar recreational activities that integrate academic fundamentals). Students will also be able to attend college tours (fully covered by the program) and tour the campuses of leading firms to explore academic and professional opportunities. Furthermore, participants can receive academic support through college, and services will be customized to meet the needs of those with autism, emotional-behavioral disorders, mobility challenges, deafness or hearing impairments, blindness, limited English proficiency, and other issues as needed.

Trauma-centered counseling and therapy: ABA and PRT techniques, along with Discrete Trial Training (DTT) procedures, will be used to aid participants in navigating, and ultimately overcoming, the effects of trauma; manage mental-health and substance-related disorders; readjusting to normal routines and daily life (particularly newly victimized individuals who have just emerged from traumatic conditions); and serving as a successful student, parent, and partner (or all three) toward enhancing individual quality of life and making a positive impact on the community. Other services that will be provided through Guide. Grow. Transform. include family therapy, medical and wellness evaluations, support groups for responsible sexual behavior, relapse-prevention groups, support groups for teenagers and young men, counseling groups for at-risk youth, support groups for LGBTQ youth, coping groups for family members and substance abusers, and anger-management and impulse-control training among others.

Supports for single mothers and young families: Supports will also be provided to single mothers and young parents, with the help of the Northern Manhattan Perinatal Partnership (NMPP) and other community organizations, to help individuals develop the resources for raising healthy families that can reduce the incidence of crime victimization and even perpetration. Emphases include establishing structures at apartments and homes to promote child safety [especially for infants and toddlers), therapy toward coping with post-partum depression [in partnership with the Families and Individuals in Recovery (FAIR) Program and Metropolitan Center for Mental Health (MCMH) programs], links to programs for pre-kindergarten and early-childhood services, seminars and coaching for placing young children on the road to sustainable academic success. Young mothers and parents who are crime victims will also receive trauma-informed therapies to place, and keep, them on the road to recovery, and enable them to be successful parents.

Wraparound services for young families and trauma victims: In addition, Guide. Grow. Transform. will provide wraparound services for victims of crime who face particularly complex challenges (for instance a 25-year-old single mother with mental-health issues who has also been a victim of domestic abuse and has had limited educational opportunities) to provide additional layers of support. These include educational support (standards-based, student-centered, and culturally responsive tutoring across traditional subjects, transitional services for college, GED prep, vocational training, etc.); therapy (trauma-informed approaches that promote resilience); benefits assistance [with links to organizations such as HUD and Neighborhood Housing Services (NHS) that can aid with granting eligible individuals and families access to affordable housing for instance]; and legal services (particularly immigration). “Wraparound” services will be an offshoot of the planned Youth Opportunity Hub services, that are planned for the Unbounded Hub for Washington Heights and Inwood, and will be expanded to serve families and older adults.

Job-training and access services for survivors of crime: Guide. Grow. Transform. will also work with FAIR/MCMH partner VESID to provide job-training and access services across traditional (health, construction, etc.) and emergent sectors (renewable energy, information technology, etc.), and ultimately enable participants to obtain gainful employment. Job-training and access services will focus on guiding individuals to develop habits and behaviors that promote professional success—punctuality, networking, presentation and interview skills, technical-writing skills—but, just as importantly, offer the supports that are needed to ensure that individuals can maintain employment, including one to three therapy sessions per week (if needed) to overcome challenges such as anger-management, socialization skills, organization skills and focus, and impulse-control. Guide. Grow. Transform. will be extending its network of businesses, throughout the New York City metropolitan area to ensure promising internship, and ultimately permanent employment, opportunities for participants. The activities will be designed to guide participants to parlay professional successful to achievement throughout the rest of their lives. Community policing efforts /community check-ins—Guide. Grow. Transform. will coordinate with local police precincts to expand community-policing efforts toward preventing crimes, identifying wrongdoing, and building community ties. Local precincts and residents will meet at least monthly to discuss pro-active safety precautions, activities for promoting engagement in neighborhoods, and collaborations with residents toward reducing crime.

Action workshops and networks:Guide. Grow. Transform. will hold at least monthly workshops toward improving community-policing efforts, offering safe mechanisms (online and in-person) for reporting crime incidence, and victims of crime remain on track to success through goal-setting conferences and workshops, mentoring, and similar frameworks. Officers will also work with residents to identify sources of danger or threat (including individuals or groups who may be linked to terrorism) to further reduce crime incidence or promote quality of life.

“Safe havens” for crime victims—Guide:. Grow. Transform. will work with NHS, local residents to develop a network of “safe havens”—places where crime victims, or those in danger, can conveniently stay, on temporary bases, to avoid danger (escape from abuse partners, gang threats, etc. Safe havens will also be used for those who report particularly sensitive crimes such as murders and assaults (especially those perpetrated by gang members) or possible terrorist threats. Safe havens will only be housed on an intranet site that will only be accessible by key law-enforcement and program members. Moreover, authorization permissions and log-in credentials will be changed frequently (at least monthly) with leading-edge safety technologies (including biometric protections if available) to further protect the integrity of the system, and most importantly, victims’ and providers’ safety. Those staying at Safe Havens will be connected to victims-assistance and witness-protection services as needed. Through the above and similar framework, victims of crime have the confidence and presence of mind to report crimes, helping contribute to safer communities, knowing that they will be protected.

Breaking Away to Breakthrough: Particularly promising individuals—crime victims or children of crime victims—will be enrolled in the “Breaking Away to Break Through” program, which will allow them to get round-the-clock therapeutic, academic-assistance, job-training programs needed to overcome trauma effects (breaking away) from youth through graduation and gainful employment (breaking through). The only criteria are that individuals show sufficient motivation and growth (equal to, or near, 100% attendance for program activities, fulfillment of academic and behavioral goals, pro-active engagement in drafting of action plans, etc.) to be enrolled. Private funds will be used to meet expense needs as required. Therefore, resources will be allocated to accommodate toward serving eligible persons.

In addition, the program will be relentlessly data-driven, with surveys administered on at least a monthly basis to track satisfaction with programs and engagement, particularly toward reporting of crime and crime-prevention efforts. Observations will also be conducted at least monthly across activities to ensure behavioral, academic, and rehabilitative goals are being met. Data will be at the foundation of continuous improvement and drive informed modifications.